Healing Teachings

Several general topics and approaches

• This is the secret of healing. One says that to heal, one should be an instrument of the Divine Power of healing. That's the first stage. But the second stage is the one that has to be the Divine Power of healing. The same is true of the teachings of Ibn al-'Arabi. So many people these days have been absolutely thrilled by the discovery of Ibn al-'Arabi because his philosophy just the most exciting metaphysics you could possibly come across: "I am the eyes through which God sees." "God can only see as much through me as I am able to see of myself through Him." "In contemplating me, He contemplates Himself."

  All of these far-out views of the mind which express a vision of reality seen from different angles at the same time: that's Ibn al-'Arabi. Then you come to Al Hallaj, and he says, "I am not the eyes through which God sees. I am the Divine Glance." It is a matter of realization. It is like the different stages that we talked about. At one stage you are still in the maqam when you I are conscious of your being. If you are conscious of your being, at least think of yourself as being the instrument. When you are not conscious of your being, then it is the Divine Consciousness that comes through. That's when you can heal. There is so much about how to develop healing in your hands, and in your eyes, and in the water, and things like that, those are techniques. They are all important, but it is your state of consciousness that will make all the difference in your healing.

  
  

• Breath is the channel through which all the expression of the innermost life can be given. Breath is an electrical current that runs between the everlasting life and the mortal frame. Those who have attained any intuition, or miraculous power, or any power have achieved it by the help of the breath.

  But the first essential thing is a pure channel for the breath, and that channel is the human body. If the channel is blocked, there is no possibility for the breath to pass freely. Air in itself is not bad, but when it touches the earth, it partakes of the influence of the earth, and therefore becomes polluted. So it is with the breath: breath in itself is pure, but if the channel through which it works is not right, it becomes impure.

  The breath makes a circuit through the body, and the channel through which it makes the circuit is the spine. The mystics give this channel great importance; they call it the serpent. They picture it as a serpent holding its tail in its mouth. In almost all symbols the serpent represents the channel of the breath. In the terms of the Yogis it is called Kundalini.

  When this channel is made clear by the method of breathing, then this is not only a help to the physical health, but it also opens up the faculties of intuition, and the doors that are within, where lies the real happiness of man. In order to clear this channel of all that blocks the way, one must follow the rules of mystical ablutions and of rhythmic breathing. People who cannot understand the subject and who hear and read things by halves, say that some chakras -- centers -- are opened by breathing exercises, and that many kinds of distress may be the consequence.

  But looking at it from another point of view, one might as well say that the eyes of a child should never be opened, because he will thereby be exposed to temptations of all sorts. All virtue is in self-control; there is no virtue in being dead. Life is worthwhile only when a person leads it fully.

  People look for phenomena, but there is no better phenomenon than breath itself, because breath is life and light, and in the breath is the source of life and light. In the mastery of the breath the secret of both worlds is hidden.

  
  

• Evolution has made all humanity a family; and now is the time when every individual should consider that as a member of the family of the whole of humanity he ought to show himself as being human in nature...

  
  

• Whoever has mastered the law of harmony has developed humanity within himself. He will harmonize equally with the wise and with the foolish. It is not because he is wise that he harmonizes with the wise, nor because he is wise that he harmonizes with the foolish. Foolish men gave their lives for Christ; wise men worshiped him for his wisdom. "They left their nets" and the fishing where they had spent all their lives because Christ harmonized with them. He answered their questions; he was tolerant.

  
  

• physical magnetism can be seen in the regularity of the working of the physical body, in the rhythm of the heart and the pulse and in the circulation of the blood; also in the purity of the body, within and without. This magnetism is sustained by a regular life, by taking care of one's health and vigor, and by maintaining a regular rhythm of life. A man, absorbed as he is in his daily affairs, often neglects his body which is a vehicle to express the spiritual ideal. His neglect is sometimes due to his absorption in his daily work, sometimes to thoughtlessness, and sometimes because he does not trouble to think about it.

  
  

• There is nothing in the world that draws people closer together than sympathy. A simple answer to the question as to what attracts and what repulses, will be that sympathy attracts and that antipathy gives a feeling of repulsion. Some people have sympathy for one person and antipathy for another, but when they feel antipathy for somebody this eats up the magnetism which is created in their hearts by sympathy, and therefore they will always lack magnetism. What is created on one side is used up on the other side.

  
  

• When disagreement arises between friends, when sympathy turns into antipathy, when sweet turns into bitter, and when one asks them why it is so, what do they say? "The other one does not understand." Probably they will both say the same. Very few will say, "I did not understand the other." Most people will say, "The other does not understand me." But why must there be this lack of understanding? What causes it? It is lack of sympathy. No words can ever make a person understand; it is the heart alone which can convey its full meaning to the other heart, for there are subtle waves of sympathy, there are delicate perceptions of feelings such as gratefulness, admiration, kindness, which cannot be put into words. Words are too inadequate to explain the finer feelings, it is the heart quality which can express itself fully, and again it is the heart quality which can understand fully. Would it therefore be an exaggeration to say that as long as the heart is not awakened a man is as though dead: it is after the awakening of the heart that a man begins to live.

  Then there is the question of how to develop this magnetism which is more powerful than all the other influences and qualities of man. The answer is that one should not try to develop the power of this magnetism; this in itself would be an error. To develop a quality in order to draw others? For that reason? It is a selfish reason, and selfishness stands in the way of magnetism. Magnetism comes from having no desire for any such powers, but allowing this quality of the heart to develop naturally; for love is the plant of God, and it needs no water to grow. It is life itself, it has power in itself to grow and to expand, if only we do not close our heart. What is necessary on the part of man is not to keep it from developing. And in cases where we find lack of sympathy in people, it is not that their heart did not have sympathy, but only that it is closed, either intentionally or unintentionally. To say that someone is loveless is like saying that there is no water beneath a certain piece of land. There is no land which has no water in its depths, and if one has the patience to dig deep enough there is no heart that will seem to be without sympathy.

  
  

• Now the question is, how can one develop the quality of love? And the answer will be: by one thing only. By studying, by knowing, by practicing, and by living the life of a friend. By contemplation on this thought from morning till evening: "Towards everyone I meet, towards those who love me and those who hate me, will I practice in my life that thought of friendliness, that outgoing, that pouring out of sympathy and love." Apart from the magnetism that one acquires from this, when we consider life as it is, with all its limitations, with all the pain and troubles and responsibilities that it gives us, if there seems to be anything worthwhile it is one thing only, and that is the thought and impression that we have done our best to be gentle, to be tender to those whom we meet in our everyday life. If there is any prayer, if there is any worship, if there is any religion, it is this. For in the life hereafter there is no one to please; if there is anyone to be pleased and whose pleasure it is worth while to earn, it is here, it is man; and it is in the pleasure of man, if one understands it, that the pleasure of God resides.